I've never said that. It's just to illustrate that "persistent universe" doesn't mean "massively persistent universe".
CIG did not use precise terms concerning a massive aspect of the PU before 2015. After 2015 they started using MMO and more recently they said they will attempt to have an unique server. They started to use those terms after 2015 because the plan about the server aspect of the game was rebooted.
I've found the initial concept of CR about his PU.
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So the Galaxy server was intended just to be a lobby with no action that send you to temporary multiplayer instances with your friends. That's not what they plan to do now. The lobby is gone and the temporary multiplayer instances are gone too. Instead they plan to have an unique server with full rendering from A to Z, full persistence and no loading at all.
The whole server architecture of the 2012 plan was of no use for the actual plan.
That's why I talk about a reboot in 2014/2015.
That version has no date on it, bugt got another source for it (kickstarter) which puts it at November 11, 2012.
So you may be very much right that it was one of the first times, probably the first time, that he talked about it.
Looking at the text itself, it looks like he wanted unlimited player numbers on a server. Not 10, not 100, not 1000... everyone together.
In Star Citizen there is going to be one persistent universe server that everyone exists on. So you will never be separated from your friends, and if you want you’ll be able to join up and adventure together, you can.
Now, he does temper this a bit with this...
So the “magic” of Star Citizen’s multiplayer design is how we combine a persistent universe with a more traditional (and easier to implement) temporary multiplayer “battle” instance.
In short, right after bad mouthing other games for using shards and instances, he goes on to talk about doing the same.
However, again, its clear he wanted unlimited people on the same "server", meaning even from this we see he is talking about MMO level numbers (or greater!).
In many ways, what he describes is a lot like how ED does it. Theoretically unlimited number of players in the same game universe, you'll just never seen everyone at the same time even if they congregate.
So, once again, nothing in that which suggests limited player numbers, quite the opposite. He talks about their current playerbase of 45,000 people all playing together. That not MMO territory yet?
I think you badly misunderstand (or are attempting to misrepresent) what he was talking about and what you suggest would not have got backers to open their wallets like they did.
"Hey guys, we are going to do this amazing open world space games, but you'll only join different areas via a lobby. No dynamic matchmaking with friends and enemies!"
Yeah, no, that would not have got people excited.
You suggest fragmentation via a lobby, CR said:
One thing I don’t like about most MMO structures is the fragmentation of the player base between these “shards”. If you had joined much later than a friend of yours, there may not be room on his world instance anymore and you have to join another parallel one and so cannot play together.
CR said nothing here about a lobby system.
Really, the more i read, the more it sounds like how ED was going to be originally, before they added supercruise to their plans. Discrete jumps with matchmaking to see who you ended up with. Instead of modes you would have a PvP slider instead to affect matchmaking.
But regardless, everyone in the same gameworld, same as ED.
What has changed since then appears to be the swtich from waypoint jumps to QT (like ED changed from discrete jumps to supercruise) and the removal of the PvP slider idea.
So, once again, i submit that an MMO like game was always part of the plan, and CR's own words from 2012 seem to back that up.
